Lauderdale BMW of Ft. Lauderdale

Although BMW released its BMW i3 Concept at the Frankfurt Auto Show last year, the production model has yet to be unveiled. However, our sneaky spy friends over at Motor Trend have seen the tiny, sleek vehicle doing some testing in the winter wonderland of Norway.

If you think you've been seeing more BMW vehicles cruising around Ft. Lauderdale, FL, then you would be correct. The automaker was certainly in demand last year, and this year looks to follow the same trend. This is one of the major reasons why the Bavarian automaker has decided to expand its Spartanburg, South Carolina manufacturing facility. As Frank-Peter Arndt of BMW explains, "We plan to invest over the next three years nearly $900 million in the Spartanburg plant by 2014. This will create 300 new jobs by the end of this year. This will allow us to produce 350,000 units in Spartanburg in the midterm."¹

Have you ever visited London, readers? If you have, you may know that walking, cabbing, or riding the "Tube"- a.k.a the Subway in America- is much more efficient than trying to drive your own car through the congested city. So, how will VIPs get around during the upcoming Olympics? Dirty trains certainly won't entice them to "Mind the Gap," and congested traffic won't get them into regular city cabs. London and BMW have a solution; the city will create 30 miles of special VIP-only lanes that will gridlock any drivers who don't happen to be seated in a special chauffeur-drive BMW sedan.

2011 has now come and gone and so have most of our holiday celebrations. Now that your stomach has recovered from the copious amounts of pie and turkey, you might be able to concentrate on learning more about what our favorite auto manufacturer, BMW, has been up to lately and what the company's plans are for the near future.

Staff members at BMW Fort Lauderdale certainly had our stomachs in knots at the rumors that were flying around about the BMW 3 Series wagon. Multiple internet sources said that the vehicle wouldn't be released in the United States. Call us sentimental, but we just weren't ready to see the cherished wagon go. We know what you're thinking...buyers seem to favor CUVs over wagons. Yet, wagons have an old-school appeal we simply can't resist. In addition, with more drivers going the CUV route, driving a wagon is an easy way to stand out from the crowd. We can now breathe freely, however, because the company has announced that it will be bringing our old favorite back in a major way. According to Autoblog, the touring variant of the BMW F30 3 Series will reach Europe within the next year, with coupe and convertible variations arriving in late 2013. All four versions of the vehicle (sedan, coupe, convertible, and wagon) should arrive in the U.S. around the same time. Until these replacements arrive, the two-door and five-door versions of the BMW E90/E92 will continue to be available.

Attention, Android users: You no longer have to own an iPhone to keep track of all things BMW. The automaker was the first to bring iPod integration and connectivity to the automobile, and now it's bringing the same power to Android users with the My BMW Remote application for Google's open-source OS. Like the iPad version of the same application, the android version allows users to remotely lock and unlock their vehicles, access climate control options, and determine the location of their vehicles.

BMW and the Tri-Pointed Star are poised to surpass luxury competitor Lexus, this year, for the first time in over 10 years. Already, the Big L is licking their wounds. But, BMW didn't become the largest automaker in the world by falling prey to sympathizing with the enemy. So, rather than step on the proverbial brakes, the Bavarian mastermind is pouring more salt in their Japanese rival's wounds.

The salt? An expanded hybrid…

During the process of their seven-hundred-million-dollar upgrade to their home plant in Munich, BMW added a new press. Capable of operating at speeds of up to 17 strokes per minute, it has the wherewithal to process the equivalent all of the metal in the Eiffel Tower in just a week and four days. This new feature will help BMW produce 680 cars per day, during the production process for the new BMW 3 Series.

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